Two sisters are pursuing legal proceedings against the City of Austin and an Austin Police officer in connection with the fatal collision that claimed their mother’s life.
In the 13000 block of N. U.S. Highway 183 northbound on June 30, Maria Casillas Reyes, 43, perished at the scene of the collision that also involved an on-duty APD officer, Alyssa Preuss, who was operating a marked patrol vehicle.
APD reports that Preuss, who was injured in the collision and transported to the hospital for treatment, has since been released.
Breana and Ana Casillas, the daughters of Reyes, have filed a lawsuit claiming unlawful death and vehicle collision with a $1 million damage settlement.
Never going to be the same– The holidays are a time when many individuals gather with their loved ones. However, the individual who means the most to the Casillas family will not be present this year.
“Christmas and New Year’s—every event that follows will never be the same,” Breana stated.
According to the sisters, a police officer stated that Preuss was responding to a complaint and neglected to see her mother.
Angela Tabares, their counsel, stated that the accident report contained no indication that Preuss answered the phone.
Regarding what transpired, Tabares stated that they are not receiving precise responses from officials.
Tabares said, “They just told us they’re still looking into it.” “We had no choice but to go to court and file a lawsuit to get the power to subpoena people to find out what happened.”
At the time of the crash, the APD’s Internal Affairs Unit was looking into whether any rules had been broken.
KXAN was told by APD that the probe is still going on.
According to the report, the Special Investigations Unit also looked into it and found no illegal evidence. APD says the officer who was involved in the crash is still on administrative duty.
The city said they haven’t received the complaint yet. The Casillas sisters said all they wanted was to know what happened to their mother and why it happened.
They said she was kind and loving to everyone.
“She was very happy. She was very nice. “She was a very friendly person,” they said. “Very humble too. She works hard. She looked out for us all the time.